


The Second Time May Set Eddie Straight

by OreoLuvr13



Series: Buck and May and Some Sibling Love [4]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Abandonment Issues, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s03e15 Coda, M/M, Post-Episode: s03e15 Eddie Begins, Protective Siblings, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:09:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24596548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OreoLuvr13/pseuds/OreoLuvr13
Summary: When May found out about Buck and Eddie, she promised to keep their secret, halfheartedly adding that she would do it as long as they did nothing stupid to make her regret it. But then Eddie did do something stupid like cutting his line when he was down that well. Obviously, she’s still going to keep their secret but it looks like she’s going to have to set Eddie straight for the second time.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & May Grant (9-1-1 TV), Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: Buck and May and Some Sibling Love [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1766836
Comments: 13
Kudos: 428
Collections: 9-1-1 Tales





	The Second Time May Set Eddie Straight

**Author's Note:**

> You guys rock! Thank you all for your amazing support!

As soon as Eddie opens his eyes, he’s ready to go back to sleep. He’s been in the hospital for almost two days after saving Hayden and himself from the well. He spent most of the time sleeping, but his body is nowhere near 100%. His whole body is one giant ache. From the tips of his toes to the ends of his hair. Thanks to the meds in his IV, he’s about to drift back to sleep when he hears an amused grunt coming from his bedside.

He opens his eyes turning to his left, expecting to see Buck. It’s been Buck who has been there almost every time he wakes up. Well, except the first time he woke in the ER to a sea of medical personnel surrounding his gurney and maybe another time when his aunt was there. He thinks Bobby may have been there too at one point. But mostly it’s been Buck there every time he opens his eyes. The one person he is not expecting to see by his hospital bed is May, her eyes focused on something on her phone.

May must feel his eyes on her because she looks up and meets Eddie’s. “Hey, look who’s awake.”

If you want to call this awake then yes Eddie guesses he is. “Here, I bet you’re thirsty.” May says pouring a cup of water from the pitcher that’s sitting on the table next to his bed. She holds the cup as he takes a few sips before pushing the cup away.

The cool water wakes him up a little and he’s no longer about to fall right back asleep. He’s still confused though. Why is May here? They don’t have a lot in common. But they are both close to the same people. Most notably, Buck. Did something happen to Buck? Is that why May’s here and not him?

“Buck is fine,” May says as if reading his mind, leaning back against the chair. “He hasn’t left your side since you got here. So Bobby finally had to use the captain card on him. Ordered him to go home a hours ago to get some sleep and take a shower.”

“And you volunteered to stay with me?” Eddie asks still not quite following how Bobby ordering Buck to go home has resulted in May sitting in his hospital room.

She rolls her eyes. “Carla is still out of town. Your aunt is watching Chris and your grandmother was here this morning. Bobby, Hen, and Chim are working. The firehouse is down two people. Buck didn’t want you to be by yourself after… everything.” Eddie knows what May was going to say. That Buck didn’t want Eddie to wake up alone after being by himself for so long. After he cut his line.

“So no one else could be here and Buck was going to stay even though Bobby told him to go home. He finally agreed to go home when I told him that I will stay with you. I may have also said that if he didn’t go home, Bobby would be the least of his worries. I would sync my mom and Maddie on him.”

Eddie can’t help but laugh. He can picture Buck’s wide, frightened eyes when May threatened to bring in her mother and his sister to get him to leave the hospital. His laughter quickly turns into a groan when it pulls at his broken ribs.

“Easy, be careful.” May admonishes as he takes a shallow breath, leaning back against the sheets. They sit there for a few minutes as the pain fades back to a dull throb only to be replaced with another pain when May says, “You know Buck was a complete wreck when you pulled that stupid stunt? That was definitely a page out of Buck’s book. Totally disregarding your own wellbeing. Screw the consequences and everyone you love.”

Eddie looks to May. Sees the familiar exasperated glint in her eyes. Her straightened shoulders. He’s seen this look before, but never from May and up until now it’s never been directed at him. No, it’s always been Athena giving it to Bobby and Buck after they do something ridiculously stupid without thinking.

“You’re mad?” Eddie asks in question.

“Fuck yeah, I’m mad!” May says pushing a piece of hair behind her ear. “We had a deal.”

A deal? What deal? He doesn’t remember making any deal with May.

“Yes, a deal.” May replies. “Remember back at Buck’s place when I put everything together about you two. I told you guys that I would keep secret as long as you guys didn’t do anything stupid. And last time I checked cutting your damn line while you’re down in a well is stupid!”

“You’re going to tell everyone about us?!” Eddie asks desperately, ignoring the pain in chest as he sits up. “You can’t do that!”

“Easy!” May says easing Eddie back down against the back of the bed. “I’m not going to say anything. I promise, I told you I wouldn’t and I won’t. Granted when I said it, I didn’t know that I would be keeping your secret for five months, but I will. I will for you guys. For Buck.”

Eddie lets out a long sigh. Letting what May said sink in. Buck was a mess. Since he’s been in the hospital, he’s spent most of the time asleep and has only been awake for short periods of time. A minute of lucidness when he first woke up gradually increasing to about half an hour over the last thirty-six hours. He never really had time to think about how his actions down in that well had on his loved ones.

Although upset, his family are going to be okay. They lived through this before when he was in Afghanistan. And just like then, they likely didn’t know about what happened until after. When Eddie was already on the way to the hospital.

But not Buck. Buck was there. He saw what happened. He was there when Eddie cut the line and when he saved himself. He was by Eddie’s side in the ambulance to the hospital.

When Eddie cut his line, it wasn’t just him that was left alone. It was Buck too. He thought that Buck had abandonment issues when they first got together. His fear of being left behind influencing everything he does. It explained why Buck reacted the way he did after his pulmonary embolism. Why he sued the city to get his job back. But it took May pointing the issue out to him after the mess with the parent-teacher conference for him to really get a firm grasp.

So of course Buck would be a mess when Eddie cut this line. When Eddie left him.

“How bad is he?” Eddie asks shakily, rubbing the stubble on his chin.

“It’s hard to tell,” May frowns. “He really hasn’t said much. Like I said, he’s been here since he rode in with you. But I overheard Bobby talking to my mom yesterday. After you cut the line, Buck panicked. Starting digging in the mud with his bare hands. He snapped at Hen when he thought she was implying you weren’t going to make it out of that well alive.” May’s tone got softer as she went on as Eddie takes in everything.

“I love Bobby, but it’s a good thing he’s a firefighter because he would make a terrible detective,” May tries to joke with a small smile. “All the signs right there in front of him and he still can’t see what’s in front of him. Gotta say I’m surprised about Hen though. My bet was on her to be the next to figure it out.”

“Relieved she hasn’t,” Eddie says. Grateful that the conversation has taken a lighter tone. “If she figures it out, Chim will know. Then Maddie.”

May nods. “You’re right on that.”

The two of them lapse into a comfortable silence. The big stuff out in the open letting it settle. There’s nothing else to say. Well, almost. There’s one thing Eddie has to. “I’ll always fight like hell to come back to them.”

“I’m sorry, what?” May asks, left eyebrow quirked in confusion.

“To my family. To Buck,” Eddie says with all the conviction in the world, his aching body be damned. “I’ll fight like hell to get back to them. Always.”

May gives him a huge smile. “You better. I expect nothing less or I’ll kick your butt myself.”

“You better what?” A new voice says.

Eddie and May are so involved in their conversation that they didn’t even hear Buck walk in.

“I said you two better either tell everyone about you two pretty soon or at least try not to get yourself killed because you’re making my job as relationship secret keeper increasingly difficult every time one of you two pull a stupid stunt,” May says, standing up.

“Tell that to him,” Buck says motioning with his chin to his partner.

“Oh I did,” May says turning to Eddie before back to Buck. Eddie nods his head in agreement. “You look better,” she says looking at Buck.

This is Buck looking better? There are huge dark blue bags under his eyes that look almost like bruises. His posture is slouched like he’s carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Buck must have showered right before he came here because his hair is still wet. He didn’t even put product in it, his hair curling behind his ears.

“Well you look better than the last time I saw you at least,” May says. “Did you even eat anything?”

Buck rolls his eyes. “I did and I showered and slept. Happy now?”

“I’m getting there,” May says. “As long as you two don’t do anything stupid and end up back here in the foreseeable future.”

“I won’t,” Eddie says from the hospital bed. And he means it. Seeing how exhausted Buck is right now breaks his heart. He’s afraid to ask how Chris is fairing right now. He doesn’t want to be the reason why they look like this. And now after being on the receiving end of a May Grant tongue lashing, he’s in no hurry for another one. Yeah, he’s good with not doing anything stupid again any time soon.

“Good,” Satisfied, May says turning to Buck. “And how about you? No more stupid stunts?”

“I’ll try,” Buck says putting his hand over his heart.

“It’s a start,” May laments, picking up her bag. “I have to get home. I got an exam in AP Psych tomorrow. Buy guys,” she says on her way out.

Buck moves towards Eddie and leans in to kiss the other man lightly on the lips. Eddie blames the small pharmacy of drugs that’s presently running through his veins for why he lets out a small moan when Buck moves away way too soon. Because there’s no other reason why he would make a pitiful noise like that. 

Buck gives him a sly, crooked smile. “You look better. How do you feel?”

“Better now,” Eddie says honestly. Yeah, he still feels like he’s been run over by a truck and knows that he is only feeling this well because he’s on the good meds. And he may have just gone a round with May, but he’s going to be okay. Buck is here with him now and in a few days when he’s released, he’s going home to Chris and Buck. Yeah, he’s good.

“May wasn’t too brutal, was she?” Buck asks, concerned lace in his voice.

How much did Buck overhear? “Nothing for you to worry about. May was fine.” And she was. She just gently reminded Eddie that it wasn’t just Chris and his blood family that is impacted by his decisions. That his actions affects Buck too.

Buck shakes his head. “I just know how she can get. She came this close to calling Athena on me to get me to go home.” He says holding his thumb and pointer fingers just millimeters apart.

“Not surprised. She’s all Athena. All she’s missing is the gun and shield,” Eddie says wrapping his fingers around Buck’s wrist.

It’s usually Buck who initiates contact first, so he can’t help but smile at the motion, his eyes moving from Eddie’s hand on his wrist up to the older man’s face. He goes to sit down, wrapping his foot around the chair leg to move it closer to the bed so that Eddie doesn’t have to let go. “You sure you’re okay?”

Eddie lets go of Buck’s wrist, moving it to cup the younger man’s cheek. “I will always fight to come back to Chris and you. Always. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, Eds. I know that,” Buck says quietly with a sheepish smile. He says he does. But the tone in his voice, his smile, and sad faraway look in his eyes tells Eddie that he’s not completely sure that that’s the case. Buck has had too many people in his life say they’re not going to leave only to do so.

He pulls Buck in for a deep kiss. Eddie will just have to show Buck that he’s not going anywhere. 


End file.
